Wildlife Safari Photography Tips – Chronicle the Wilds of Sri Lanka

Getting the right perspective is essential in capturing the essence of your subject. Get low and comfy until you are sure the subject is seen in the correct angle for maximum impact.

If the structure and alignment of a picture is not to your liking get busy and sort out those angles with some proper pre-processing cropping. Remember the better the alignment the more vibrant your animal shots will appear.

Try and get a proper balance between scale so that your end picture depicts a fair idea of the animal's actual size. Of course you can manipulate scale if you are out to shock and make the subject appear more ferocious or larger than in reality.

Do not stress out on composition, alignment and light so much that you miss the moment. Always be ready to identify and snap up a unique moment in the wild; after all these sudden snap shots are the basic essence of capturing animals in the wild when on a safari. Sri Lanka has much to offer in terms of viewing nature at its best!

Animals are best captured in good light; especially during the afternoons and sunset. Forget the natural habitats afforded to certain species and try your best to capture the animal in the best light. Of course a little help in photography goes a long way; recognising this are the specialised photography safaris offered by top safari camp sites. These wildlife adventure planners such as Mahoora Tented Safari Camps cater to the photography buff by providing specialised photography safaris, vehicles and trained guides.

Do make use of your camera's zoom capacity to capture wildlife up close. Zoom in and out as much as you want to get the right perspective. Of course it helps if you have a telephoto lens.

Don't focus on just the front light affecting your subject. Instead look for side lights that add depth and a different perspective.

Photographing at twilight can be tricky. Experiment with over exposing and underexposing various aspects of your picture. For instance in order to make an animal subject stand out try underexposing the backdrop while highlighting striking features such as a colourfully lit up night sky.

This is one of the most challenging aspects of wildlife photography. A 300mm or more lens is required to capture a bird in mid-flight. Having a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second is an added bonus. When photographing birds remember to be patient and keep your lens focused on the subject this way you will be able to predict the exact path of habitual birds such as kingfishers as they dive for pray.

In the wild, backlighting can come from the sun or strategically placed spotlights. Experiment and try different angles of backlight that will create magical glows and vistas to your photographs.